


Around The Universe

by FatSmack



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: A Prototype Story, F/M, just for fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23418355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FatSmack/pseuds/FatSmack
Summary: After traveling on the road for five days, Stevens' car finally decides to breakdown, bringing his vacation to an abrupt halt. However, now stuck on the road with limited options, Steven spends the rest of his night at a nearby motel; now settling his keys into his room for the night, his phone begins to ring, and he smiles as he gladly accepts the call.Having been lost for the last week and a half, an ambitious, yet fragile Pink Sapphire comes across a familiar face at a nearby human settlement, proposing the proud name of, “DaysOutLodge.” Curious to find out more, with the hopes of recovering her lost future vision, she makes herself known to her Universe.Unbeknownst to the two injured Gems; they may be finding a home sooner than they thought.
Relationships: Pink Sapphire/Steven Universe
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Around The Universe

Steven yawned as he pulled himself to a stop, the press of his foot against the breaks making a worrying screeching sound against the floor of the car. Upon hearing the strange contortion, Steven immediately looks down at the breaks with a sense of alarm; now fully awake, he takes a deep breath before slowly pulling to the side—the brakes weren’t working as fast as they should’ve been, but luckily enough, it was the middle of the night, and he was visiting another small town. It was very unlikely that anyone would be driving at this time of the day, considering that it was already one in the morning. 

After finally coming to a stop on the side of the road, Steven presses his foot on his emergency breaks and sets his car into park before quickly exiting the vehicle, a lump of something bitter stuck on his tongue. 

“Please,” Steven groans, “don’t be broken.”

Steven lowers himself by the car door as he looks at the breaks from the outside, swiftly catching something abnormal in the corner of his eye. He turns to look, and a pound of horror buries his features. On top of the breaks lay a set of loose cords, facing in every direction. His hand slowly moves over to the cords as he bundles them into his hands, only to sigh in defeat as he dares a peek at the concoction of wires once more. He turned his head to the side and returned the reason for his sudden fret back onto the floorboards. 

Steven stands, only to find himself stuck with only three choices.

One: Sleep in the car and wait for somebody to stop by, and hopefully, they could help him fix the issue. It wasn’t a bad idea, but the last time that Steven had slept in his car, he was furiously yelled at by a store owner. Never again. 

Two: Call his Dad, or perhaps the Gems, to help guide him? No, it was way too late into the night to call his Dad, and the Gems were working on night-shift Little Homeschool hours now.

Three: Walk to the Motel he just passed not too long ago, and leave a note on his car about where he is, and to contact him if they are willing to help. 

Steven considered his choices for a small moment before finally coming to a conclusion. He would take the third option; besides, just like how the third time’s a charm, the third option would also be, right? Whatever. It didn’t matter. What mattered now was getting situated as quickly as possible so he could return to his silent journey on the road.

Without a second thought, Steven grabs a few select items from his car and settles out for the nearby Motel. Several minutes pass before Steven is met with a large, well-kept, blue neon sign, proposing its proud name of “DaysOutLodge.” Steven smiles as he looks at the adjacent sign, originally thinking that it was further than it actually was. He swiftly runs forward, eager to meet with the manager on shift—the sound of breaking branches ring behind him— he stops instantly, his body turning pink with panic, and a deadly whip of speed takes over his body. His mind does a swift reconnection to real-time as he sees nothing there.

Slowly, Steven puts a hand to his chest, breathing in sync to a familiar rhythm that was taught to him by his therapist. One thing that he hated about being away from home was that the air was different everywhere else. To put it simply, he didn’t feel that the air was as pure as it was on the beachside.

“Hello?” a raspy voice began from behind him. Steven turned and was met with a skinnier man, probably in his late teens. “Are you good?” the teen prodded, “I saw you, uh… glow? I wanted to see what was going on...”

A bright pink tint of embarrassment marked Steven’s face as he waved his hands in front of him wildly. “No-no! I’m okay, really,” he takes a short breath before lowering his hands, allowing a small smile to take over his face, “and don’t worry about the glowing thing… it just happens sometimes.” Steven takes a moment to clear the lump in his throat as he waits for a response. 

The teen in front of him simply rubs his neck and adds, “If you say so,” before gesturing towards the counter of the motel, welcoming him to the side. Besides, it wouldn’t be the strangest thing a motel worker would ever see while on shift. 

Steven gladly follows, splaying his hand on the wallet inside his pocket. The teen opens the door, stepping into the proper position he was assigned to; the other side of the counter, of course, and turns to Steven.

“So,” the teen starts again, “are you looking for a room?” His hands get close to a small machine, readying to type something down. Steven nods, “yes, please.” Quickly enough, the teen begins to type into the machine, only to come to a sudden stop as Steven hurriedly adds, “a-are there any upstairs rooms available?” he begins to tidy the hair behind his head as he continues, “I know it might sound weird, but—”

“No, it’s fine. People usually prefer those higher floors anyway,” the teen quickly cuts in, swiftly retyping into the machine before walking over to a sheaf of keys. Steven closes his eyes as he sighs happily. Thankful for the quick acceptance of his upstairs room.

“That will be fifty-five for just the one night; I can’t believe that the upcoming parade has made such a big impact on the nearby hotels—because of the declining price, of course, so the boss here says that it would be a good idea as well.”

Steven puts on a confused look as he leans over the counter, watching as the boy in front of him searches for the right key, “there’s going to be a parade?” 

The teen glances over and responds, “yeah,” he lifts a pair of keys from the wall and returns to the counter. Steven takes hold of the keys as he reaches for his wallet, although without breaking eye contact; he breathes, “what’s it about?”

The teen lays his elbows on the counter as he takes a seat. “Y’know, uh, ‘awareness of homelessness and poverty for the town’, or something like that. I-I hear that some bigger towns nearby were wanting to build a bigger ‘friendship’,” the teen uses two fingers to quote the word, “so that they could become ‘one’, or something like that.”

“I didn’t know that… When is it?” Steven asks, now very curious as to if he should stay a little longer for the parade.  _ ‘Maybe I could collect some free candy for the road,’ _ Steven jokes in his head, letting out a real, yet small, chuckle.

“Well, it’s tomor— well, technically today, if you were wanting to go,” the teen replies. Steven gives a small chuckle at his mishap.

“Oh, yeah, totally! Just tell me when and where.”

“It’s at three P.M. by the ‘Charm County Bank.’ ‘Should be a lot of people there by two-thirty, so just follow the people or look online to find where you need to go.”

Steven gives one last, soothing laugh, as he twirls the keys with his fingers, while the other hand pulls out his wallet. 

“Well, in that case, I’ll definitely be there! Thanks for telling me.”

Steven continues to pluck a relatively massive wad of cash from his wallet before handing the specified amount over. The teen accepted the money, counted it, and nodded, but was surprised when Steven handed him another small bill, decorated with the number twenty on the top right corners.

“What’s thi—”

“A small tip for telling me about the parade,” Steven answered, “I would’ve hated to miss it.” Steven turns back around, feeling finished; however, not without giving his signature wink and sparkle.

The teen looked back and forth, from the dollar, and back to Steven. “Really,” the teen began, “I-I don’t need it. Y-you should take it back.” The teen moved the bill back towards him, but had his hand pushed aside before Steven began to walk away.

Steven glanced back, a smirk on his lips, and a scoff in his throat, “have a good rest of your night.”

The teen looked back down at the extra cash, quickly depositing it before  _ properly  _ registering Steven into the machine. He gave out a short, tired sigh as he closed his eyes, only to reopen them upon the crunching sound of sticks, and the swishing sound of solid mud being dragged against the concrete. Despite this, however, he saw nothing in front of him—well, except for a blur of pink and brown that quickly moved past him. The teen froze up, feeling his nerves attempt to start up as he slowly peaked over the corner. His body shook in relief when he saw nothing there. Only Steven, who was still making his way towards the set of stairs ahead of him.

… 

Pink Sapphire stands in front of the counter, just barely visible to the human atop of her. She was deathly still as a clump of water began to form under her feet and at the sides of her muddied dress. Her gem, only slightly displayed against her left palm, layed snuggly in the crevice of her right hand. Trembling in place, Sapphire waited patiently for the human to return to his communication device —something that she had seen him use, before, to whom she had assumed to be, Steven, appeared.  _ The very person that could heal her… what a coincidence. right? _

Once the human laid back into his chair, now out of her sight, she pushed herself forward, unsure… unsure of… blind to her fate. Blind to the future ahead of her. Knocking on the inside of her mind, however, is her powerful ambiguity, telling her to push forward! Telling her to just… keep going, and that something will happen. Something. Whatever that is.

…

Now halfway up the stairs, his new set of keys swinging wildly, yet precisely, on his finger, Steven comes to a slow stop as he feels his phone vibrate. Quickly taking out his phone to check his notification, Steven’s eyes burst open when he sees his newest message.

‘From: Amethyst~ Sent: Six Seconds Ago

Yo, Steven!!! Just checking in early to see if you’re still down to play some Sweet Munch w/me and the Famethyst later today. Respond as soon as you can!  _ Adult Steven. _ ’

_ Adult Steven _ sighed with little annoyance at the name, but smiled as he put his fingers on the key panel, knowing full-well that Amethyst wouldn’t expect him to be awake.  _ “I hope her reaction is good—hold on! Isn’t she supposed to be on a night shift today?”  _ he snickered quietly, typing swiftly into his phone.

‘To: Amethyst~ Sent: Two Seconds Ago

Totally! But I’m busy sometime between three to five P.M today, so we’ll have to adjust our schedule for today. Also, don’t you have classes right now? You should focus on your students right now.’

Steven paused for a moment, expecting an instant response, but was met with a solid silence as he sluggishly pushed his keys into the adjacent door, unlocking it. He sighed heavily as he pushed the door open, before—buzz—gently shoving it—buzz—back. There was no click of the door, however… maybe he should… 

Buzz.

Steven rapidly reached for his phone again, reading the name, ‘Amethyst’, before gleefully accepting the call.

“Yo, Steeman!? You there?” Amethyst yelled from the other end, causing Steven to repel the phone from his ears.

“Hello?—Amethyst?” he beamed, walking towards the mirror in the middle of the room.  _ ‘Wait, no. I shouldn’t be talking to Amethyst right now! She has very important work to-’ _

_ “Hey! _ What’s up? How’s your trip going?”

Steven stretched his back as he replied with a harmless growl, “oh, not too much—and, it’s great, really. Right now I’m at a motel, so…”

“A motel?” Amethyst questioned, her curiosity becoming peaked, “why? I thought you slept in your car?”

Steven chuckles as he responds, “that was just the one time!” he pauses, “besides, I need a place to take a shower too, you know?”

A small silence passed before Amethyst hummed; though, she wasn’t finished just yet.

“It’s like… almost one-thirty in the morning. What are you doing up this late at night?”

Steven flinched as her question finished processing through his ears.  _ ‘Oh, poop,’ _ he thought, knowing full well that… would she freak out? Maybe, maybe not…  _ ‘the Gems have really become more mature around me lately… so maybe not?’ _

“-even? Hello? You still there?”

“O-oh! Sorry, I was just caught up in thought, that’s all.” 

Steven nervously slicks his free hand down the front of his hair, ignoring the worried hum from the other side of the phone.  _ ‘I’m ready.’ _

Taking in a deep breath, Steven finally answers, “so, don’t freak out or anything, but my car broke down around an hour ago. It looked like some wires in the breaks were cut somehow, b-but I was planning on contacting Dad as soon as I woke up! I just didn’t want to—”

“Woah, slow down there buddy!” Amethyst huffed, her eyes going wide in worry, “I totally get it-we came prepared for this particular situation just in case, anyway. Just hold tight where you are and we’ll tell Greg as soon as we can. Okay?—yeah, I’ll be with you in a minute, I’m on the phone with—”

_ Creak…  _

“T-thanks a lot, Amethyst, really, but you’re busy right now, and I don’t want to get caught up in your work time. I’ll be fine for now, trust me. Just make sure you get my Dad as soon as you can—when he’s awake.”

_ Creak…  _

Amethyst moves away from one of her students as she ducks her head in privacy; “alright, Steven, but know that I’m happy to answer any calls you have for me.”

_ Shutter…  _

“I know… It was nice tal—”

Before Steven could finish, a spike of cracked, cold air spirals through his palm, jutting him into an instant form of luminescent, pink light. Immediately, Steven turns around, confused and startled, before enveloping himself with a dome-shaped house of thick, pink walls— his phone falls with the movement, and cracks against the hardwood floor, taking a few hits against the walls of his shield before actually reaching the ground. The shutters and static leftover from Amethyst’s voice are entirely inaudible, but continues to sound off from the phone’s speakers. 

Steven lurches his back forward, fists at the ready, and eyebrows curved into a vicious snarl as he searches for his reason for panic, only to hear a small hissing sound merely three feet ahead of him. 

Steven looks down at his attacker, still breathing heavily, as his nerves settle upon her picture; a small, yet firm frame, restless-crazy-like bangs, dirt and mud covering her wetted dress, and entirely masked with pink, which didn’t apply well with the Picasso-like splatter of brown.

“Please—don’t—” her free hand reached up to her soaked bangs, shaking uncontrollably, “I-I—I just need—I-I can’t… see… I’ve been—”

Instantly, Steven breaks his snarl into a worried fret before forcefully releasing his shields, freeing her hand from the crevice of which it stuck out of, before kneeling to her. And she looked like… 

_ ‘A Sapphire?’ _


End file.
